There You'll Be
by Clover64
Summary: Kate Warner and Jack Bauer parted on bad terms long ago...but when she comes back into his life after a tragedy, will their love be rekindled? Or will they both simply slip into the dark oblivion that the world is becoming? A JackKate fic.
1. Chapter 1: Languid

**Author's Notes:** The first chapter for a massive 100-chapter fic for **100situations** at Livejournal. It's short, and may be a bit confusing at first, but everything will come together, I promise! Please, drop me a comment and tell me what you think! No flames though, please!

---

"Hello, Jack."

That voice...he remembered that voice. It was soft, gentle, like a summer's breeze blowing through the trees. There was a lightness to it, despite the sad undertone to it. Yes, he remembered that voice. It wasn't something he'd likely forget. But now? Now he found it hard to put a face to the voice. Was it Audrey?

"I know you can't hear me, Jack," the voice continued in a quiet tone, "But the doctors said it might help your recovery just being around other people."

Recovery? The word seemed to bounce around Jack's head, as if it were an out-of-control plane searching for a place to land. He was recovering? From what? Where was he? Why couldn't he speak? Why couldn't he move?

A sad sigh. "I probably shouldn't be here. But Mr. Buchanan told me what had happened and..."

Bill Buchanan? He remembered him, yes. He was the director at CTU, where he worked. Yes, that much he could remember. But who was this person speaking with him now? If it wasn't Audrey, than who else could it be?

"I'm so sorry, Jack," the voice whispered, fighting back a sob.

It was maddening...being trapped in the darkness, not allowed to speak, see, move. Jack couldn't remember much about what had happened prior to waking in this darkness, but he knew that something dreadful had happened. He could feel it within his aching heart, with every beat of his heart, he could hear the quiet whispers that foretold his fate, and the fate of his friends.

"You always did have a knack for getting into trouble," the voice said with forced joviality, before sinking into solemnity. "You're a brave man, Jack Bauer...you deserve a better fate than this."

Panic began to rise within Jack. This person was speaking as if he was dead, as if his life wasn't worth living anymore. He found it frustrating being unable to respond to this person who was clearly concerned for him. They had to be a friend, at the very least. Many people had visited him, but this one the only person that had caused his mind to awaken to an almost fully alert state.

A delicate hand traced a path from his forehead down his cheek tenderly. The touch seemed to unlock his hidden memories, allowing them to flow back to him in a wave of thoughts. Everything that had happened in the past several years was suddenly clear to him, especially what had happened in the last 24 hours.

This person couldn't be Audrey...because Audrey was dead.

Jack suddenly found it difficult to breathe, and he could hear his heart monitor spike a little as he struggled for breath. Audrey was dead. He had promised to save her...and he had failed. Now, he was trapped in some sort of coma, unable to speak, weep, cry out. All his emotions were bottled up within his shell of a body.

And it _hurt_. It hurt more than anything.

"Oh, Jack," the voice murmured, slowly gaining vehemence as it spoke to him. "You have to fight this; you have to wake up. People need you, Jack. You're a hero to so many people. They need someone to idolize, Jack. They need _you_."

Jack did not stir, which did not surprise Kate Warner in the least. Jack was a soldier, a fighter, a hero even...but even heroes were not invincible, as Jack was proving now. He had always seemed larger than life to her, but that had faded over the years since she last had seen him. As he laid here now, seemingly lifeless in this hospital bed, he looked no more than a broken man...and Kate's heart went out to him.

Even if he awoke, what would he awake to?

Kate had been briefed by Bill Buchanan before she'd come here. Originally, she'd gone to CTU to speak with Jack on a personal matter--her father, Bob Warner, had gone missing several months ago, and had been pronounced dead the moment they found his car in a gully far off the main roads heading into Los Angeles. Blood matching her father's had stained the car's interior seats, and the police said it was far too much blood having been lost for anyone to have survived. Kate had insisted they check around the gully for a body, at the very least, but nothing turned up. While her father was suppose to be dead, Kate could not believe that, would not believe it, which is why she went to CTU, to Jack.

She knew Jack would believe her; Jack had always believed her. While their relationship hadn't lasted the test of time, she'd still kept in touch with him for a short while after they'd broken up. Perhaps it was desperation--perhaps it was something else entirely--but Kate had believed that Jack could, and would, help her find her father...alive, as well.

But her hopes had been shattered upon arrival at CTU, when she found out that Jack Bauer had been involved in a horrendous car crash, and had slipped into a coma that the doctor's didn't believe he would recover from. Not only that, but the woman that he had apparently been seeing had died shortly before the crash...or, at least, that was what she had been told.

She should have gone home then. But she hadn't. Instead, she had requested to see Jack Bauer. If only for one last time...

Her expression softened further as she took in his weakened form, her hand still resting on his cheek. "What has the world done to you?" She let her hand drop to her side then, standing.

He could feel her presence fading; she was leaving. But her voice was still humming loudly in his ears and resounding within his head. The face was materializing before his mind's eye, and he could just make out the outline of the woman's face. It was a woman, yes, but it wasn't Chloe. It wasn't Audrey. Nor was it Marilyn.

"Goodbye, Jack Bauer," the woman placed a dove-like kiss on his forehead.

Blond hair. Radiant blue eyes. A soft, pale complexion. A sturdy countenance. It was all coming back to him. That voice. That touch. The woman in his mind's eye smiled at him, and he recognized it as a memory. He knew that smile. He knew that woman.

Kate turned to leave, her face a mixture of concern and disappointment. What had she been expecting? Jack to magically awake from his languid state? That would be impossible, of course. The doctors couldn't even wake him with their modern medicine. And she was no longer the woman he loved, so what difference would she make? None.

_None_. The word sounded hollow and cold within her own head as she took a few steps towards the door. Her steps were slow, methodical. She didn't want to leave him...not like this. She may not have loved him anymore, but he was still a friend...and she would always be concerned for his well-being.

_Goodbye, Jack_, she thought silently.

But just as she neared the doorway, an unmistakably gravelly voice murmured, "Kate."

Her eyes widened as she turned around just in time to see Jack's eyelids flutter open slowly. "Jack?"

"Kate?" he said again, almost as if testing his own voice, unsure of himself.

Kate turned and yelled out the doorway for the doctors, then returned to Jack's side. "It's me, Jack."

He tried to smile, but couldn't find the strength to. Instead, he just whispered, "I know."

---

**A/N: **Please review!


	2. Chapter 2: Leave

**Author's Notes:** Here's the second chapter! I hope you enjoy! Thanks to those who reviewed my first chapter, I appreciate it immensely!

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"Will you please say something, Jack?"

Jack kept his sunglass-hidden eyes directly on the road. "What is there to say?"

"I'm no more happy about this than you are," Kate told him, "But if Mr. Buchanan thinks this is the appropriate course of action--"

"He doesn't."

"What?"

Jack sighed. "Look, Kate, Bill is a lot of things...but being a good liar is not one of them."

"I'm not sure I understand," Kate said while keeping her hands gripped steadily on the steering wheel.

"He's assigned me to help you because he knows I won't find anything," he explained. "He wants to keep me busy, distracted, and out of the way until things blow over in Washington...or until I prove I'm stable enough to come back to work."

Kate chanced a look at him, noticing his dark expression. "So you think this a wild goose chase?"

"Not entirely," he replied without confidence to back it up. "I still don't have all the details. Bill was eager to get me away from CTU as soon as he could. I guess this could be considered my sick leave."

Kate frowned, focusing back on the road. "I see."

Jack felt guilty. But he couldn't help the iciness with which he spoke now. Ever since he had woken out of his temporary coma--surprising all the doctors--he had been anxious to get back to work, to do something, _anything_, to take his mind off of the mind-numbing pain. Everything had happened so fast...and he was still trying to take it all in. However, that didn't give him the right to take it out on Kate...and he knew as much.

"So...what did Mr. Buchanan tell you?" Kate asked, prompting a response from her brooding partner.

Jack rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on. "He told me about your father's disappearance, how you felt it was connected to terrorism, and how he thought that they might try to get to you next. Of course, the latter I doubt is true."

"Why is that?" queried the blonde woman, looking at Jack sharply.

"People disappear all the time," he told her. "That doesn't mean it's terrorism."

"He had been working with the CIA though--" Kate tried.

Jack shook his head. "Regardless, there were no ransom demands, no communication of any kind--if what you told Bill was everything--so it just doesn't sound like terrorism to me."

Kate's frown increased, aging her beautifully young face. "So what _do_ you think it was, Jack?"

He paused. "A vendetta, most likely."

Kate bristled at the thought. "Everyone loved my father! He'd never said two mean words to anyone and--"

"Calm down, Kate," Jack said in an even tone. She did so, albeit a bit reluctantly. "It was just a thought."

The woman nodded, but it was obvious to Jack that the thought was still bouncing around her head, bothering her deep down. Though it had been a while since he'd last seen her, years to be exact, he could still tell when something bothered or pleased her through her strange, subtle qualities.

"He's a good man," Kate blurted into the suffocating silence suddenly.

Jack nodded in agreement. He had known Bob Warner quite well during the time he had been dating his daughter, and he couldn't say anything bad about the man except that the way he conducted business was a bit arbitrary. However, he got things done quickly and efficiently...and Jack had respected that.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Wait. You referred to him as if--"

"He's alive," Kate finished for him.

Jack's eyes widened slightly, though she couldn't see them due to Jack's sunglasses. "How do you know that?"

"I just do." This was said with such vehemence, that Jack almost believed her...had his own personal logic not won him over first.

"Kate," he began.

Her face set itself in a stoic expression, all emotion absent from it. "You don't believe my father's still alive, do you?"

Jack knew he was treading on eggshells here. "It doesn't matter if I believe it or not--"

"It matters to me," she whispered in an almost vulnerable tone, before it hardened again. "Do you believe my father is alive, Jack?"

"No."

Kate felt her heart drop instantaneously as soon as Jack had spoken. Even Jack, the man who did the impossible, didn't believe her father could be alive. Was her cause really beyond the realms of possibility? Was her gut instinct wrong? Was her beloved father really, and truly, dead? While she didn't want to believe it, there was that hint of doubt that nagged at her from the dark recesses of her mind.

She refused to listen to that fearful voice, however, for if it was right...it would mean she was truly alone. Her mother had died years ago, and then her sister had turned out to be a terrorist. And when her relationship with Jack ended, her father was all she had had left. She didn't know what she would do without him.

Jack observed Kate's fragile face, watching her carefully crafted facade crack for a few seconds while doubt infiltrated her mind. It passed quickly though, as if it'd never been here at all. That was something he'd always respected and admired about Kate; even when she was afraid, doubtful, she pushed through. Few people could do that.

"It doesn't matter," she spoke abruptly. "Because my father _is_ alive."

Jack changed the subject. "Do you still live in the same mansion you used to?"

Kate smirked. "It wasn't a mansion, Jack."

"It was big enough to be."

"But no," she shook her head. "We downgraded shortly after...we downgraded."

It was obvious that she was going to say something else, but she tried to hide it. Jack had a feeling he knew what she had wanted to say but didn't press the subject. As long as he kept her talking, kept them both busy, he didn't have to think about anything else. He didn't have to think about work, he didn't have to think about politics, but mostly...he didn't have to think about Audrey.

"Why?" he asked absent-mindedly.

"It was a big house, very empty, with too many memories," she told him nostalgically, with a distant look in her faint blue eyes. "I didn't like it, and neither did my father. Some things are best left forgotten, you know?"

He did, more than she probably knew. After his wife, Teri, had died, he had moved from the house he'd shared with her. The memories had haunted him along every corridor and hallway in that house; he saw her face everywhere, especially while he tried his best to do every day tasks. Every picture of them together simply reminded him how he had failed her, failed his daughter, Kim, failed himself. Eventually, it had become too much for the former agent...and he had been forced to move.

Yes, he knew how Kate felt.

"Yes," he said simply, echoing his own thoughts.

Kate continued. "We moved to a smaller house in a completely different neighborhood. It was nice...but it never felt like home. Certain...things were missing."

Jack could hear the sadness seeping from her voice, the longing for what once was. He recognized it because he had possessed the same tone before. He knew what it was like to lose someone one loved: it was the hardest thing in the world.

And now he was being forced to experience it all over again.

He felt his throat seizing up, felt the tears rising to the surface, but he fought them valiantly back. He had to remain strong. Audrey wouldn't have wanted him to give up...she'd had wanted him to continue with his life, to be happy. But could he do that? Could he really forget another heartbreak, another loss? Work could only be a distraction for so long...and sleep simply plagued him with nightmares of the past.

"You really loved her, didn't you?"

Kate's question came roaring towards him like a bullet, and he wasn't ready for the impact. He simply stared straight ahead, at the road, at the trees passing, at the houses. Trying to ignore her altogether.

"Jack?" she pressed.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he said in a choked voice, very uncharacteristic of his usually gruff tone.

Kate dropped it then. He was obviously hurting, and she had just poured salt into the wound. After all, it wasn't any of her business anyway. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"

"Forget it."

But she wouldn't. Part of her was curious about what Jack had been doing, with whom he had been associating with, since she'd last seen him. However, she wasn't brave enough to trespass on Jack's life, knowing full well the consequences of doing so. She'd gotten involved with him before, she knew the risks, and she wasn't willing to get her heart broken again.

"So," Kate began slowly, "If you think this is a waste of time--"

"--I never said that," Jack said defensively.

Kate ignored him. "Why did you agree to come?"

"It wasn't really a choice," he quipped. "It was an order."

"Of course."

An awkward silence fell between them as Kate pulled into the driveway of her home. When she had said smaller, Jack had thought more of a suburban home, but this was still quite large for the area...especially since most of the neighboring houses were considerably smaller. It was a country yellow color with white windowpanes and a wraparound porch. It was a good two stories high with obvious vaulted ceilings, Jack could tell by the large, slanted roof. All in all, it still exposed the Warners for what they were: rich, well-educated people.

"We're here," Kate said unenthusiastically. "Home sweet home."

---

**A/N: **Please review!


	3. Chapter 3: Sushi

**Author's Notes: **A big thanks to everyone who likes this story and reviews! Reviews are the bloodlife of an author, you know, and it keeps me going! Here's the next chapter...and I hope you enjoy!

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"Make yourself at home, Jack."

This was easier said than done for Agent Bauer as he slowly sat down into a large cushy armchair in the Warner's living room, while Kate disappeared into the kitchen. Jack's eyes searched the room, trying to familiarize himself with the layout of the house, just in case anything happened. While he believed this was a waste of time, Kate was steadfast in her cause...and he'd humor her for now.

As he tried to get comfortable in the chair, he noticed the mantel of the large, ornate fireplace. Atop the mantle were several family pictures: pictures of Kate with her father, Kate as a child, Marie with her father, and one whole family picture including Reza Naiyeer--Marie's fiancé until Marie murdered him in cold blood for her terrorist cause. It seemed like a collection of memories sat on top of that cold fireplace, providing a gateway to the past and happier times.

"Are you hungry?" Kate asked, coming back into the room. When Jack didn't respond, too locked away in thought, she said, "Jack?"

He snapped out of his trance-like state, looking up at the woman who hovered over him now. "Excuse me?"

"I asked if you were hungry," she told him. "Are you?"

Jack shook his head. "No, thank you."

Kate placed her hands on her hips, looking condescendingly down at him. "Jack Bauer, you haven't had a decent meal, I wager, for a few days. I'm betting that you're starving right now. So, you can drop the tough-guy routine with me, Jack."

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips, as he replied, "Alright. I guess I could use a little something to eat."

Kate smiled radiantly, and Jack was reminded of the woman he used to know years ago. The woman who didn't look so...sad. He realized then that Kate looked sad. Despite her happy expression, her eyes held a deep hurt than went down to her soul, her very core. He recognized the look, for it was one he had sported at one time or another. While she kept a cheerful facade, this woman was deeply hurting.

"Good," she said, disappearing back into the kitchen.

Jack relaxed slightly. He always felt tense and awkward when she was around lately, but he wasn't sure why. There was the obvious reason: they had once been involved in a relationship, and Jack had been the one to end it, directly and indirectly. Then there was the more subtle reason: she was still his friend, and she was in pain...and he couldn't do anything to comfort or help her. After all, he had hurt her long ago--and he was certain that she remembered--so he'd almost be a hypocrite for trying to comfort her, when he had been one to add to her collection of pain.

Shaking his head, he rubbed his temples. Things had become so confusing the past few years. It had all been tolerable due to his companionship with Audrey, but now he'd lost his one anchor to the world. What was stopping him from drifting off into insanity?

"Audrey," he whispered her name inaudibly, feeling the hot tears rising up again.

He had failed her. She had tried to save him, and he had failed in saving her. It was an unforgivable crime...and he knew it. Deep down, he doubted he'd ever be able to forgive himself for her death. Even now, years after, he still blamed himself for Teri's death. It seemed that the people he cared most for continued to die as a result of being connected to him.

And that guilt weighed heavily upon him.

"Jack?" Kate called his name for the third time.

"Yes?" he finally responded.

She peeked her head out of the kitchen. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. My mind's just not all here right now...sorry."

She gave him an understanding smile. "It's alright. I asked if you wanted some sushi."

"Sushi?" he gave her a curious look. "I thought you hated fish."

"I do," she looked down. "Daddy always loved it though. He'd go get some fresh sushi every Sunday. When we were little, he'd make Marie and I eat it...convinced that we'd grow to like it. We never did."

Jack could hear the nostalgia within her voice, and could see her eyes trail off towards the fireplace mantel where the pictures were. "I don't eat it...but I keep buying it. Every Sunday. I guess I keep thinking Daddy will come walking in any moment, ready to eat it." She paused, lifting a hand to her head, as she blushed. "I'm sorry. I tend to get ahead of myself these days. Did you say you wanted some sushi?"

Jack wasn't particularly fond of fish, especially raw fish, but part of him thought that it'd ease Kate's pain if he ate some sushi. It obviously reminded her of her father, and certain memories like that needed to be kept alive, he felt. "I'd love some."

This seemed to excite her, and she smiled brightly. "Great!"

Jack felt a certain sense of accomplishment as she dashed back into the kitchen. At least he was able to brighten her otherwise dark day a little bit. It was then, as he sat in the silence of the living room, he realized that they had a lot in common. They both had lost people dearly to them. In fact, Kate might have it worse off since she had lost her mother to cancer, her sister to terrorism, and she didn't even know the fate of her father for sure. At least Jack could visit the graves of those he had loved...Kate had nothing and no one to visit.

Reappearing with a tray full of sushi, she set it on the coffee table, and then sat on the couch opposite to where Jack was seated. "Enjoy," she told him.

Taking a bite of the raw fish, Jack realized just how strongly he disliked fish. However, he gave her a gratuitous smile, and continued eating.

"So," Kate began. "I thought we might want to discuss the details of my father's disappearance...just so you're aware of them."

Jack nodded in agreement.

"Well, things had been going relatively good for my father's company a few months ago, but I noticed that he had begun to act strangely," Kate told Jack. "When I questioned him about it, he simply told me he was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. He disappeared a few days later, and that's when I called the LAPD, and put out a missing person's report. A few weeks later, they found his car in a ditch off the side of an out of the way road. There was dry blood all over the interior of the car, and the DNA testing they did on it proved that it was all my father's blood. I made the search parties continue looking for him but...they never found anything else, not even a body."

Her voice was beginning to get choked by the tears that wanted to escape, but she took a breath and regained her composure. "After a month or so, and no luck, they pronounced my father dead. But I feel like I would've known if he was dead, Jack, and I don't. I don't know...anything."

"So, that's when you came to CTU?" he queried.

She nodded. "I didn't know where else to turn. I thought...well, I thought you might help me."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you think I would help?" Jack asked, genuinely curious.

Kate blushed faintly, almost unnoticeably. "I don't know. I was desperate. You were the only other person I could think of."

Jack looked at her intently for a moment, before taking another bite of his food. "You believe your father is alive?"

"Yes."

"Then so do I," he stated.

He had been skeptical at first, before he realized how much of a loving connection Kate Warner had had with her father. The bond between a father and daughter was strong and great, indeed. Jack would know...since he had a strong connection with his own daughter, Kimberly. They didn't always see eye to eye, but she was precious to him, and if anything ever happened to her...he would know instantly, he was sure of it.

If Kate believed her father was alive, than that was good enough for Jack.

"Do you really, Jack?" she asked in a tender voice.

He nodded. "I believe you believe he's alive, and that should suffice for now."

"Thank you, Jack."

Just then, the phone rang, and Kate picked it up, with a cheery, "Hello? Warner's residence."

There was a pause, and Kate replied, "Yes, this is Kate Warner."

Jack watched as Kate's face slowly fell, and fear began to etch itself into her delicate features, contorting her face into a peculiar expression. "Who is this?"

A few minutes later, she whispered, "I understand."

Then she let the phone fall to the floor, eyes wide.

Jack asked, "Kate? Who was that?"

She didn't respond, just clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a sob. Jack rushed to her side just as she fell to her knees, holding her gently. "Kate," he repeated in a quiet voice. "Who was that? What did they say?"

"It--it was Marie," Kate stammered.

Jack's eyes widened. Marie was in prison. How was that possible? "What did she want?"

Kate turned her frightened eyes towards Jack. "She has Daddy."

---

**A/N: **You'll notice I'm a big fan of plot twists, so there'll be a ton more to come throughout this story! Please review!


	4. Chapter 4: Bathroom

**Author's Notes: **Took me a little longer than expected, but here is the next chapter of _There You'll Be_. I really hope you enjoy and continue to review! I do take the time to read and reply to every review, so drop me a line, please!

---

Kate stared into the bathroom mirror, into a face that she no longer recognized. The woman in the mirror looked fragile, like a pale china doll, and she was crying. The woman in the mirror stared back at her with empty eyes full of fearful tears, her lips parted slightly eliciting small gasps as she tried to catch her breath. The woman in the mirror looked _weak_, barely keeping it together.

The woman in the mirror was _her_.

As much as she refused to accept it, gone were the youthful days of peaceful relaxation, replaced by the bitter reality of the world. As the world had changed, Kate realized so had she. Where once there was a strong, charismatic woman now stood a weak, broken one. Kate had tried to give the appearance of stability, but as the years progressed, she had begun to crack ever so slightly--until her father disappeared, shattering her last anchor to the world.

Leaning on the counter for support, Kate tried to steady her breathing, and regain her composure. Jack would wonder where she was if she didn't reemerge soon. He was calling Bill Buchanan with information about the phone call, much to Kate's distress. Marie had clearly stated that she wasn't to involve CTU, but Jack had assured her that Marie didn't need to know, and wouldn't find out. Kate had believed him.

Brushing away the last vestiges of tears, she tried smiling. Her attempt at a smile failed miserably, as she was attacked by another powerful sob. It felt as if her world was spiraling down around her, and she was helpless to stop it. She'd lived in a seemingly perfect world for so long, with the fake smiles and painted on happiness, that she'd forgotten how cruel it was.

Her sister--her own flesh and blood--had kidnapped their father, their only living parent. It was utterly inconceivable, but Kate had to remind herself that Marie was no longer her sister...but a different person altogether. The Marie now was no longer a little girl who liked to play with Barbie, but a dangerous terrorist with intents too dark to mention. And to top it all off, she had kidnapped their father and was doing who knows what to him. No, Marie was no longer her sister...but her enemy.

And yet, she still loved her.

Abruptly, breaking Kate out of her thoughts, a knock sounded on the door. "Kate?"

"Give me a moment, Jack," she replied in a hoarse voice.

If there was one thing she dreaded, it was looking weak in front of Jack Bauer. He had always been this sort of larger-than-life man who could do the seemingly impossible; despite any sacrifice to himself he had to make to accomplish the task. While Kate held no hero-worship for him, she did hold and incredible amount of respect for Jack. He had saved her numerous occasions, and had been there for her a lot...before their breakup, anyway.

If there was anyone who would understand how she was feeling, it would be Jack. He had always understood her to a certain degree, but that time had long since passed...and it was a fact she had accepted. Regardless, she knew she could seek comfort from him...but refused to. Jack had plenty of his own troubles to deal with without her adding to the list. No, she would not look weak in front of Jack.

She quickly reapplied some makeup, and forced the best smile she could muster, looking once into the mirror at the woman who, frighteningly, she had become.

Then she opened the door. "Hi, Jack. Any news?"

Jack looked at Kate, noticing the subtle differences about her since he'd left her last. Her eyes were tainted red...from crying? Her expression was arranged in a way that made Jack think that she was holding something back from him. "Nothing, unfortunately. Bill hasn't heard anything about Marie Warner breaking out of prison, or making any phone calls."

Kate's eyes widened. "What? But that's not possible--I just talked to her!"

"I know," Jack agreed. "I told Bill that, and he has some of his best people working on it now."

Kate studied Jack's face and eyes for a moment, before replying, "You're lying."

Jack deadpanned. "What?"

"You're lying," she insisted. "I can see it in your face."

Jack bowed his head for a moment, eliciting a small sigh. He should have known better than to lie to Kate; she knew him too well...even after all this time. That, or Jack was just a lousy liar.

"Why?" Kate demanded in a hard tone. "Why are you lying to me? What aren't you telling me, Jack?"

He looked back up at her, matching her inquisitive gaze. "Bill doesn't believe you, Kate."

"What?"

"He thinks you imagined hearing Marie's voice," Jack told her slowly, gauging her reaction.

"And what do you think?" Kate asked him, the hope hiding within the depths of her blue-gray eyes.

"I think..." he said hesitantly, "that Bill might be right."

Kate's expression fell, along with her heart. "Oh."

"Kate..."

She shook her head vehemently, withdrawing away from him and back into the bathroom. "No, Jack, you're probably right. I probably just imagined it. I mean, I am under a lot of stress lately...and that's probably exactly what Bill Buchanan told you, isn't it?"

Jack reached out to her instinctively, but it only served to push her farther away, and his hand fell limply to his side. "Yes, that's what he told me."

She felt those dreaded tears rising up again, and that made Kate angry. She didn't want to cry in front of him; she didn't want to look _weak_. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, Jack."

It was said with such icy bitterness that Jack nearly winced. "Kate, you aren't wasting my time."

"So you say, Jack, but that's obviously not the way you feel--"

"How do you know how I feel?" he bit out quickly, unable to help himself. Kate visibly winced at his statement, and he immediately felt horrible. "Kate, I'm sorry--"

She looked away from him, unable to hold his gaze. "I know you are, Jack. You always are..."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing."

This time Jack reached out, and grabbed her by both of her forearms, forcing her to look at him. "Talk to me, Kate."

When she refused to look at him, biting her lower lip to keep from crying, Jack continued. "I know how you're feeling, Kate. Trust me, I do. But pushing everyone away is not going to help. It never does. When I lost Teri, I thought that I'd never recover...but I did, with time, and with the help of those who cared about me. You were there for me when I was at one of my lowest points, and now I'm here for you."

That was the breaking point for Kate Warner, and the tears began to roll down her cheeks, unbidden and unwelcome...but quite relieving. Without hesitating or thinking about it, Jack slowly took Kate into his arms, letting her cry into his shoulder as he stroked her blonde hair tenderly.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she sobbed. "I just--just..."

"I know," he cooed in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "But it's not your fault, despite what you may think, none of this is your fault."

After a few moments, Kate was brought back to reality, and slowly, albeit a bit reluctantly, moved away from Jack's comforting embrace, her eyes still full of unshed tears. "Thank you, Jack."

He nodded, shaking the fog from his head. Kate's presence had an almost mind-numbing affect on him, an affect that he had forgotten.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed, before Jack said, "earlier, when I said I thought Bill might be right... "

"It's fine, Jack," Kate interrupted quickly.

"It's not what I believe," Jack finished.

Kate looked utterly confused. "What? But--"

"I think Bill may be right...but it's not what I believe," Jack told her. "I _believe_ you heard Marie's voice. And I _believe_ that she has your father and that he's alive."

"Why, Jack?"

"Because I believe," he looked directly into her pretty features, "in _you_."

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**A/N: **Please review! The more reviews I get, the faster I update! It's a win-win situation!


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